City council directed staff to begin looking into bringing ride-for-hire services to Airdrie at its May 2 meeting.
Ride-for-hire or rideshare services provide residents who don’t own a car with an additional method for getting around, aside from traditional buses and taxis.
“With the emergence of transportation network companies – for example, Uber, which is the biggest one so far – we thought it would be prudent to bring some information to council with some background,” said Colleen Kinley, chief license inspector with the City.
The provincial government has made it somewhat easier for these kinds of companies to operate in municipalities by putting some regulations in place, according to Kinley.
“For any transportation network company – whether you’re a taxi, or Uber or whatever you are – if you are transporting people, you must have the proper insurance,” she said.
“The other thing they took away from our decision is the Class 4 drivers license. Anybody who transports people must have a Class 4 drivers license. They also require a medical exam to make sure you are capable of transporting people in your vehicle.”
According to Kinley, the Province has also made it a requirement that all drivers undergo a criminal record check by a policing agency, such as the RCMP.
Council unanimously approved a motion to direct staff to further investigate the changes that would be required to the Taxi Bylaw to allow ride-for-hire businesses to operate in Airdrie.
Taxi Bylaw
A motion to make some changes to the Taxi Bylaw failed to get approval to go to third reading at the May 2 meeting after Councillor Allan Hunter voted against it. Hunter gave no reason for his decision.
The changes included requiring new brokers wishing to set up in the city to have a minimum of three vehicles and a requirement that all taxis have individual numbers affixed to their sides.
Councillor Fred Burley asked if the current brokers had seen, reviewed and approved the proposed changes.
“Each year, staff meets with the current taxi brokers to examine the bylaw to see if it requires any changes or updates,” Kinley said. “Most recently, staff met with the brokers three times, twice in 2015 – Oct. 25 and Nov. 16 – and again on Feb. 25. At the meeting in Feb. 25, I presented (the changes) again and (the brokers) were good with them.”
Hunter made an amendment to the proposed changes that would leave the review of an applicant’s character and state of health up to the RCMP rather than City staff, however, he then voted against, allowing the motion to go to third reading.
Staff will return to the next meeting with the proposed changes.
